You Could Be Using Facebook to Split Restaurant Bills

Has there ever been a time when the bill arrived at your table of friends and you haven’t struggled with fistfuls of cash and cards, thinking, ‘This is plain awful. Get me out’?

Although Facebook has had the capability to send payments to individuals since 2015, a new development tackles one of the most annoying aspects of eating out with friends.

In direct competition to existing bill-splitting apps, like Splitwise, Venmo, Divvy and Billr, which are yet to be widely popularised in Australia, any Facebook user can now request a payment and have it processed within a group chat, allowing all participants to either transfer payment to you – the person who bore the burden of the bill – or all people included in the group chat. The best uses of which are, of course, bill splitting or chipping in for a birthday gift – and you can also request the specific amount you’d like everyone to contribute just by selecting the dollar sign button in your group chat. Helpfully, it also helps track who has already paid, leaving behind the days of the old, ‘it mustn’t have been processed yet!’ excuse.

At this stage, Facebook does not take a cut for the service, which is also pretty handy.